Although Keith formally relieved me as Editor of The Wolfpack in July 1996 he had actually been doing the job for several years before that. Soon after joining the Society, in 1991, Keith volunteered that he had some “state of the art” computer equipment and would help in any way he could. At that time The Wolfpack was little more than a few sheets of A4 paper printed on my Commodore 64 and a dot-matrix printer resulting in a print quality, which was barely legible. Keith changed all that. However, it was not easy and did not happen overnight.

In 1991 home computers and printers were still in their infancy and few contributors to The Wolfpack were able to submit word processed material. The Internet had not yet been invented, International phone calls were prohibitively expensive, and all communications between me in England and Keith in New Zealand had to go through the post - rightly dubbed “snail mail”. Software on my computer was not always compatible with that of Keith either.

However, over a period of many months we evolved a system whereby contributions to the magazine were word processed in England, often with the help of members such as Anne Bennett (No. 64) who typed up the material for us, and sent down to New Zealand on a floppy disc. Keith then formatted it all and printed master copies which came back to me through the mail. Keith would leave spaces of specific dimensions to that we could insert original photographs before the pages were photocopied and collated. Mary Relph Powell's crosswords gave him some difficulties at first; trying to contain his triumph when he succeeded in reproducing the square format, I challenged him to print the answers upside down in the next issue and, of course, he did! Timing was critical and there was ample scope for horrendous mistakes in the process; corrections to the masters were seldom practical due to postal delays. However, despite my most strenuous efforts I was never able to lay the blame at Keith's door; any errors were inevitably mine - though I tried not to let him know that!

Over most of the past decade, and despite the pressures of employment changes, family turbulence, some serious medical problems, house moves, and eventual retirement, Keith has never let us down. Successive Chairmen have come to take for granted that Keith would deliver the master sheets beautifully laid out, neatly printed, and, most important of all, on time whilst working continuously to improve production methods and presentation. Nowadays much of the material is passed by email and can be printed in this country on our much improved home printers. In recent months Helen Relf has gradually taken over the task of Editor under Keith's tutelage. The result of Keith's efforts are plain to see in the pages of The Wolfpack which, I'm sure you will agree, is now a very readable and professional looking publication.

In addition to proffering my personal thanks to Keith, I would like to propose a very sincere vote of appreciation on behalf of the International Relf Society. Keith, may you enjoy a very well earned and long retirement from your duties as Editor of The Wolfpack.

Thank you on behalf of us all!

Brian Relf, #001, President.

Return to top

E-mail to Helen Relf

Page last revised October 2005.